Schumer: McConnell's Impeachment Resolution a 'National Disgrace'

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) claimed Monday that Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) impeachment resolution ” is nothing short of a national disgrace.”

McConnell’s resolution also contains a proposal to vote on a motion as to “whether it shall be in order to consider and debate under the impeachment rules any motion to subpoena witnesses or documents.”

Schumer wrote in a tweet:

It’s clear Sen. McConnell is hell-bent on making it much more difficult to get witnesses and documents and intent on rushing the trial through. On something as important as impeachment, Senator McConnell’s resolution is nothing short of a national disgrace.

Included in Schumer’s tweet was a statement that read:

Senator McConnell repeatedly promised Senators, the public and the press that his rules for the trial would be the same as the rules for President Clinton’s trial. After reading his resolution, it’s clear Senator McConnell is hell-bent on making it much more difficult to get witnesses and documents and intent on rushing the trial though. On something as important as impeachment, Senator McConnell’s resolution is nothing short of a national disgrace.

Senator McConnell’s proposed rules depart dramatically from the clinton precedent – in ways that are designed to prevent the Senate and the American pople from learning the full truth about President Trump’s actions that warranted his impeachment. The McConnell rules don’t even allow the simple, basic step of admitting the House record into evidence at the trial.

Under this resolution, Senator McConnell is saying he doesn’t want to hear any of the existing evidence, and he doesn’t want to hear any new evidence. A trial with no evidence – no existing record, no witnesses, no documents – isn’t a trial at all. It’s a cover up, and the American people will see it for exactly what it is.

Furthermore, Senator McConnell’s resolution stipulates that key facts be delivered in the wee hours of the night simply because he doesn’t want the American people to hear them. Any senator that votes for the McConnell resolution will be voting to hide information and evidence from the American people.

As soon as Senator McConnell offers this resolution, I will be offering amendments to address the many flaws in this deeply unfair proposal and to subpoena the witnesses and documents we have requested.

“We are gratified that the draft resolution protects the President’s rights to a fair trial,” White House legislative aide Eric Ueland said of the resolution. “We look forward to presenting a vigorous defense of the President on the facts and the process as quickly as possible and seeking an acquittal as swiftly as possible.”